This Is Fuel:

Everything I Learned From Traveling The World

Why We Travel

To explore the unknown: That was the goal that led me to India at age 17, and to backpack through Europe for an eventual grand total of over two years. Dynamic friendships, exotic languages, constantly new experiences -- I was hooked.

From India To Finland...

People strive to meet these needs, and no matter the country, obstacles stand in their way. Poverty, political corruption, an abusive family, a caste system, social and economic injustice of all kinds. The obstacles vary by country, but they are always present, and human beings are always running up against them.

What I Found Made The Difference...

After meeting thousands of people, from hundreds of countries, each with their own set of obstacles, was not how many needs they could meet, or the severity of the adversity that stood in their path, but instead their attitude toward the adversity they faced.

There Were Those...

Who viewed what stood in their way as a misfortune; an affliction. Then, there were those rare few that viewed them, quite simply, as fuel. Kindling that would light the fire of a better version of themselves. I encountered people all over the world who grew stronger with each obstacle they faced and saw every kind of adversity in their life as a challenge, a calling, a sacred rite.

What I Learned By Traveling...

Was that the universal human needs that unite us are greater than the cultural differences that separate us. And, that satisfaction means realizing that the only thing we can truly control in our lives is how we view the adversity that stands in our way.

Now, whenever I encounter obstacles in my life, big or small, I repeat a single mantra I learned from my time abroad.

“But, do we really need a website? Will that get more people to come to our events?”These are the questions I get from bar or venue owners when I talk to them about web development strategies.And, my answer is not always yes.

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The 5 Keys To Developing An Unbeatable Real Estate Website

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The Internet Of Money: How Cryptocurrencies Have Revolutionized Economics(And Why We Don't Know It Yet)

What The Hell Is Money -- Anyway? Money is an inextricable part of our lives. Being wealthy won’t necessarily make you happy, but being dirt poor will almost certainly stress you the hell out, as a now famous Princeton study showed us. As we try to juggle success and paying bills, with living the lifestyle that gives us joy, we rarely question some of the most basic premises about what gives money its value, and its power to orchestrate our lives. Many don’t realize that money is simply created out of thin air, and that the only thing that ensures its stability is that it’s backed by the full faith and confidence of the United States government.The Centralized ModelWhat’s more, dollars aren’t tethered to anything of inherent value, such as gold, as they were in the past. The confusing financial lingo and complex monetary terminology seems designed to conceal the simple truth: that the asset we spend our lives pursuing is conjured out of thin air by a politically independent Central Bank, governed not by Congress, but by mysterious private shareholders whose identities are completely hidden from the public. Pretty whacky, but absolutely true. A central bank creating monetary policy that is often arbitrary, secretive, and complex seemed unavoidable, but not anymore. With the advent of technology that controls monetary policy through the power of math and logic, rather than a central authority, we now have the potential to create currencies that are self-governing and rational.Nakamoto's Revelation Bitcoin was the fist of the digital currencies to utilize this technology, invented by Satoshi Nakamoto, a mysterious software engineer whose real identity is still unknown. Nakamoto created a self-governing system that controls the value, transfer, and purchasing power of a currency. It works by making all currency transactions transparent through the use of a public ledger. The ledger is verified by a complex algorithm, run by bitcoin miners. Miners are Bitcoin enthusiasts who use computing power to process Bitcoin’s algorithm, which verifies every Bitcoin transaction on the public ledger, visible to all users.​

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The Bionics Revolution:The Power To See Without Eyes

Like it or not, the access to information that technology provides is rapidly becoming a more intimate part of our lives. As computers have migrated from entire buildings, to desks, to laps, to pockets, to wrists, they beg the question: where will they go next?To top technologists, the answer is evident. Computers will go from simply getting closer to us, to becoming part of us. Cranial implants have already become common for the handicapped, with remarkable success. Bionic eyes are now being developed to provide sight to the blind.But, recreating sight will have implications that extend far beyond the visually impaired. Bionic eyes may well provide the foundation for a new world of knowledge -- the ultimate graphical user interface. Considering bionics can already provide a graphical representation of a user’s surroundings, what’s to stop engineers from interlacing data with those graphics?The time may soon come that when I look at you, I can also see your Facebook page, latest tweets, your Linkedin professional network, your real-time GPS location if you happen to be behind a wall, and where you checked into Yelp for lunch, if, that is, you’ve set that information to be available publicly. But, why wouldn’t you? Odds are, you’ve already made that information accessible to those you trust through a quick Google search. By simply replacing one eye for a bionic one, it may well be possible to open up a whole new world of information, data, connection, communication, and knowledge. Sound scary or intrusive? New technology always does. Rest assured, the fields of information security, privacy, and encryption are growing even faster than bionics. As years pass, the tools available to keep information from outsiders, while making it available to those we trust will only multiply.